UAE's Ghulam Shabber becomes 5th player under ICC ACU's investigation

The UAE players have been trying to make peace with the fact that they will not be able to qualify for the next year's T20 World Cup in Australia due to losing four of their players (Mohammad Naveed, Ashfaq Ahmed, Shaiman Anwar and Qadeer Ahmed) as part of an investigation by the ICC's Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU). Add a fifth UAE player to the list now as another corruption-related controversy has hit them. After their 90-run loss to Scotland at the Dubai International Stadium on Wednesday, the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) confirmed that their wicketkeeper-batsman Ghulam Shabber is also a part of an ongoing ICC investigation. The board has suspended the player, who was considered to be 'missing' a few days ago but has fled to his home country, Pakistan.  

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Ready to comply with the investigation: Shabber

Shabber, while speaking to a Dubai-based leading news network, said that he was ready to comply with the investigation related to anti-corruption in Pakistan. He said that he has retired from cricket as he did not think it was his future and wanted to move on with his life and family.

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Shabbir had not shown up on the team bus last week when the team left for their match against Hong Kong. They were concerned about his well being so they had gone out of their way to contact any next of kin that they could. They had also searched hospitals to make sure he was fine. They had also got people to go and check if he was at home but since then, they found out that he had left the country and was traced in Pakistan.

33-year-old Shabbir was born in Jhang, a district of the Punjab province of Pakistan and played for the UAE in 23 ODIs and 17 T20Is.

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